The search for bluefin tuna is on! A team of scientists from Stanford University and other partner institutions is scouring waters in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The goal - to place electronic tags in giant bluefin tuna to learn more about their migrations, behavior, and environmental preferences. Read about their adventures below...

Monday, October 8, 2012

"Da Bumps"

Back on the water after another day of windy weather, we headed
to a place known as “Da Bumps”, a shoaling area off Cape George, about a 1.5
hour run from Port Hood. We started marking
fish immediately, but our search was interrupted by a call from Captain Bernie
Chisholm (Nicole Brandy), alerting us that he and his mates on the Nicole Brandy
had a fish on!

Captain Dennis Cameron on the Bay Queen IV

Captain Dennis Cameron readies the squid rig

We stopped fishing and raced westward, in the direction of
Fisherman’s Bank (see October 7 blog), to catch up with the Nicole Brandy.Approximately 45 minutes later, Captain
Dennis Cameron pulled alongside the Nicole Brandy and we successfully transferred
the first fish of the day to the Bay Queen IV. We opted to deploy an acoustic tag on the 259 cm CFL fish and then quickly released her back into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Tuna transfer form the Nicole Brandy to the Bay Queen IV

Craig Cameron reeling in a bluefin

Although the forecast called for diminishing winds, the
winds increased steadily through the afternoon.We headed back towards the “Da Bumps”, scanning
the sea for diving gannets and steadily marking large fish.

Dr. George Shillinger and Robbie Schallert

We finally hooked up again around 5:00 p.m.
but lost the fish to a pulled hook about thirty minutes later.

Inspired by numerous marks on the scanner, registering fish
from 40-60’, we opted to give the tuna one more try.We headed back to the exact same spot where
we hooked the second fish and hooked up immediately – only to lose another fish
(again to a pulled hook) right at the rail.

Almost there...

That was enough fishing for October 8. We headed home,
arriving back at the docks around 8:00 p.m. For now, tomorrow’s marine forecast
looks very promising – winds < 10 kts…could be a great day!